


Sugary Sweet

by lockheartss



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival (Video Game), Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, Fluff, mmm I can’t think of any tags right now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-17 10:17:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17558513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lockheartss/pseuds/lockheartss
Summary: Nico’s a candy shop owner, and Maki’s a struggling medschool student just trying to get through the week.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> heyo!! thanks for reading!!
> 
> I write so much nicomaki but I feel like I write some good stuff with them, plus I love them both so much. sorry :(
> 
> I wrote like a third of this a week ago then left for a bit to get inspiration, so there might be some errors in it. I haven’t got the chance to reread it so there’s probably a ton of errors, spelling and plot wise, but I’ll look it over in a bit. 
> 
> Otherwise, I’ve been dying to write a candy shop (au?) storyline, I’ve always thought it’d be adorable to have for Nico and Maki, Nico being a total sweet-obsessed sweetheart and Maki not really getting the whole gist of it.
> 
> Nonetheless, I really like the ideas I have for this so far and I’m excited to have a story that’ll expand to a few chapters.
> 
> This first chapter is a bit short and not much really happens, but  
> I hope you all stick with me through it and you like it!
> 
> Thanks for all the support I’ve gotten so far with my nicomaki fics :)

chapter one // introduction

-

Maki was always a bit skeptical on how forgiving medical school would be on her personal life. She had always assumed as a teenager that maybe, just maybe, it’d be reasonable and give her at least a few times in the week for her to be herself.

Yeah, she thought wrong. And she really was pissed about it. Everyday when she’d make the depressing walk home, down the same backstreets to get to the bus stop, she’d always have the same racing thoughts of dropping out and changing her identity to live in another country.

Of course, she couldn’t do that, though. She knew way too many people, and even she knew that she couldn’t keep the act up. 

She drummed her fingers over her duffel bags arm straps and let out a huff, pressing her lips into a line. She swerved out of the residential sidewalk and reached into the pocket of her jeans to pull out her phone. She still kept a look out, even though there wasn’t a soul around.

She unlocked it to check the time, noticing she had a few extra minutes to kill before she had to catch the bus. The bus schedule was always changing, with today, Monday, being the most delayed. The bus always came at 6:25, compared to any other day ranging from 5:45-6:15.

She slid her phone back into her pocket and began to slouch into the wall of a store she was next to, letting out a soft hum.

She could always go get coffee, but that costed money she didn’t have much of at the moment. 

She could drop by the park that crossed roads with Otonokizaka High, but that was just a bit too far out of the way, and she didn’t have the time to travel so far down memory lane, anyway.

Noticing traffic beginning to build up on the sidewalk, Maki glanced down the street to the downtown area.

She averted her gaze back to the cement ground. She kicked a small pebble she noticed by her shoe, flinging it a few steps away.

Maki was desperately trying to figure out what to do.

She’d love to visit a friend, but she wasn’t sure who. They all lived so far away now.

Wait.

Maki quickly pulled her phone out again and viciously went to check the time. 5:30.

Who got off work at 7:00 again?

Right! Nico! That was it. That settled that for Maki. She was actually a bit excited, after not seeing Nico for a month or so.

Maki didn’t like to admit what she felt about the cute little raven-haired girl. In fact, Maki wasn’t sure what she felt. But she liked her, something nobody else but her would know.

Maki was grateful in that very moment, it was freezing cold and, thankfully, Nico’s shop wasn’t too far away. It was just across the street from the bus stop, anyway.

It always baffled the girl how Nico’s life ended up turning out. She wouldn’t have thought that Nico would end up opening her own candy shop. 

Maki knew Nico always had a sweet tooth, but she didn’t think she’d actually go far with it, but I guess life turns out strange sometimes. 

Maki drug her feet down the sidewalk, her bag feeling like it was getting heavier and heavier. The air was getting colder, leaving her to shiver. She finally passed the set of benches that were near the shop, and found herself face to face with the glass door, however she couldn’t see inside very well.

She took a deep breath and reached for the handle, hearing the bell above the door ring. Stepping inside, Maki realized nothing changed from when she was there last month. Everything was the same, the same clear boxes with scoops filled with lollipops, gummies, and gumballs hanging across the walls and the floor. 

Surprisingly, Nico knew how to decorate very well. Any space on the walls that wasn’t taken up by candy boxes had pictures of abstract paintings, and she had the cutest ribbons across the door and windows.

A few moments after the door rang, out of the corner of her eye, Maki could see a figure stepping out of the doorway.

“Hello! How can I-“

The girl stepped into frame and revealed the same black-haired girl Maki knew for years. Her red eyes were wide, and Maki could do nothing but smile at her.

“Maki!” Nico’s face brightened and her voice went higher than usual, if that was possible, before jogging towards her and throwing herself into Maki’s arms, giving her no choice but to wrap them around Nico so she wouldn’t fall straight through the glass.

Maki rocked her back and forth as overtime Nico’s clutch on her back began to loosen. Eventually, Nico pulled away and looked into Maki’s eyes, despising how hard her neck sprained to look up at the redhead.

“Aww, you look so tired.” She raised her small hands to the sides of Maki’s face, using her thumbs to stroke below Maki’s eyes, causing her to scoff and turn her head while she furrowed her brows.

“No, I’m not.”  
Maki held her eyes shut, knowing Nico knew, too, how horrible she was keeping up.

“I’m.. fine.” Her voice trailed to a whisper.

“No, you’re not.. you look so torn up.”

This caused Maki to open her eyes, being met with Nicos gaze and pouring lip.

Her lips looked so smooth and glossy.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” Nico broke the silence between the two.

“Oh.. I have to catch a bus in a bit, but I thought I’d drop by since it’s been awhile.” Maki shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, I’m really glad you did.” Nico gave her a warm smile and Maki felt obligated to return it.

“C’mon with me.” Nico grasped Maki’s hand and practically drug her into the room behind the counter. Maki found herself in what seemed to be a type of break room, with a couch and a few beanbag chairs with a table in the middle. A vending machine was on right, and a tv was on the left. It was turned on to a nature documentary. 

And finally, there was a door straight ahead. It must have been Nico’s office, or something.

“Cute.” Maki huffed.

“Oh, come on! I worked hard on it.” Nico whined and stomped her foot.

“I know, I know, it really is cute.” Maki laughed and pat the girl on the head.

“So, you can’t be the only person working here. Where’s everyone else?” Maki turned to Nico and questioned, raising her eyebrow.

“Decided to give the other two a break today. It’s been super slow all day, but it’s like that on Mondays. Everyone’s just busy and not in the mood to really go anywhere.” Nico shrugged, and went to lean against the table and watch the documentary.

Maki dropped her bag, forgetting she was carrying it for a bit. She reached into the back pocket of her jeans and slipped her phone out to check the time.

“Crap!” Her bus was about to come in eleven minutes.

Nico turned her head. “What?”

“I forgot about the damned bus. It’s coming in a few minutes.” Maki groaned and picked up her bag again.

Nico looked really upset. More than usual. She stepped away from the desk.

“I’ll walk you out, then?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’d love that.” Maki replied, being the first to step out of the break room and away from the counter. She looked over her shoulder to see Nico trailing behind her.

It took her only a few seconds to get to the door, considering the shop was small. 

“Oh, wait! Wait a minute.” Nico dashed back to the counter, grabbed a box of chocolates, and ran back to Maki in record time. 

“Here, they’re homemade. Dark chocolate and cherry, I know they’re your favorite.”

Maki took the box from Nicos hand and looked at the red box sealed with golden ribbon. She smiled and hugged Nico tight.

“Thank you.” She whispered into the back of Nico’s neck, before moving her head away a bit. She wasn’t sure how Nico felt about the contact, so she didn’t want to push it by breathing on her neck so much.

Nico smirked. “You know I’d do anything for you.”

Maki tensed up. Did Nico know the intensity of what she said? She surely couldn’t have.

“Hey,” Nico patted Maki’s back. “You gotta go. You’re gonna miss the bus.”

Maki, very hesitantly, broke their embrace. 

“I really enjoyed you visiting. Thank you.” Nico brushed a piece of Maki’s hair back into place, finally noticing Maki’s eyeliner and eyeshadow that just looked beautiful on her even after such a long day.

“I missed you a lot.” Maki said, letting Nico play with her hair a bit. 

Maki heard the bus drive up outside the door. Maki immediately shrieked and raced out the door, making Nico run out with her and stay at the doorway as she watched Maki race towards the bus. When she finally got towards the front, before running around the bus to the door, she yelled back at Nico.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Maki’s voice was loud and echoed over the bus engine. 

Nico nodded as Maki raced around the bus and jumped inside just mere seconds before the doors closed.

Maki brought out her bus card and scanned it as she got inside. She found an empty seat throughout a sea of people, and immediately fell into it, her breath still a bit shaky. She looked at the box of chocolates she was still holding, and smiled. She moved her head to her left shoulder and inhaled the leftover scent of Nico’s flowery perfume.

Maki spent the rest of the bus trip in a happy daze.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told myself I’d have another chapter up by tonight, so I had to finish it up before school made me inactive again >;0 I’m refusing to let this story die
> 
> thanks so much for everyone’s support on this! the comments and kudos mean a lot to me <3 I promise I’ll reply to the comments later but just know I really appreciate them!
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter! I really like it actually.

Maki groaned and threw her face into her arm on the desk.

 

She had studied hard for the test, like she always did, but for some reason she just couldn’t remember a single thing regarding where all the little nerves on a body where.

 

And it wasn’t like her at all, she should have known all this, anyway. 

 

She lifted her head up and picked up her pencil once again, bringing it to the paper, but she quickly got interrupted when the girl next to her started to tap her pencil super loudly.

 

Maki could have sworn her eye started to twitch.

 

“It’s fine, I’ll just try to ignore her.” She thought, narrowing her eyes further on the paper.

 

The tapping kept getting obnoxiously louder, and it was already hard for Maki to even form a sentence at this point.Before she knew it, the whole class had started to pack up.The sounds of laptops clicking shut and zippers of bags being opened and closed echoed throughout the room. 

 

Maki was one of the last ones to leave, strolling towards the teachers desk kind of cautiously.

 

“Can I take this back to my apartment to finish it?” She asked the teacher.

 

He nodded.What a relief.At least she could settle down at home and do it.

 

“Thank you very much, mister.” Maki started to turn around to walk out of the building.

 

“Have a nice day, Nishikino,” His voice called out to her.“Don’t overwork yourself.”

 

“I won’t, you too, sir.” Maki pushed the heavy doors open and was greeted to the famous winter air, which thankfully, today, wasn’t freezing cold.It felt pretty nice, actually.It had just the right amount of wind and the right amount of sunlight to balance it all out.

 

Maki took a deep breath in and began to walk down the campus path to the exit.She took a little bit of extra time out, waving to the people she knew and watching the squirrels scamper across the trees.

 

Nature was beautiful, that was one thing Maki could say for sure.She was a photographer, after all.Most of the time she would find herself capturing trees, or beautiful hibiscus flowers, or maybe just the cityscape.

 

Maki let her heels click across the pavement as she made her way to Nico’s shop.It’s been three days since she first went, and she soon got into the habit of going everyday like she used to do before.It gave her something to look forward to, and Nico always gave her chocolate, too.

 

She approached the familiar glass door and shoved it open with a bell ring.She was pleased to find the place pretty busy, a bunch of kids and even teenagers wandering around to find something they liked. 

 

Maki had gotten into the habit of just walking right into the break room, and straight to Nico’s office. 

 

She felt weird doing it, but Nico had given her the permission and the workers knew who Maki was, anyway.

 

Maki approached the wooden door across from the couch.

 

She knocked.

 

“Nico?I’m coming in.”

 

She wrapped her hand around the gold painted door handle, and gave it a turn to creak the door open.She was greeted with the sight of Nico in her swivel chair looking through thick stacks of paper.

 

Nico took a glance up to greet Maki and gestured her to sit in a chair across from the desk.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry.Am I disturbing you?”

 

Maki immediately tensed up, her words sounding a bit too sarcastic and rude from what she intended.

 

Nico didn’t seem to mind though. 

 

“No, no,” She messed with the papers a bit more, moving them between each other.“I’m just trying to sort some stuff.Someone screwed the order up so now we have, like, thousands more gum drops than we should.” Nico groaned.

 

Finally she set the papers down with force while letting out an exhale and smiling. “So,” She propped her elbow up on the desk and rested her chin in her palm. “How’s your day been?”

 

Maki shrugged her shoulders back into her chair. “Good, I guess.I mean, some dude had a backpack chucked at him from a window.”

 

Nico gasped and looked pretty shocked.Maki had to fight back a chuckle, but a smirk got through nonetheless.

 

“Maki! That’s not funny!” Nico groaned and leaned over the desk and lightly slapped Maki’s shoulder, causing Maki to bring her hand to it to rub the area Nico hit, despite it not hurting at all.

 

“...At least it is a medical school, though.” Nico laughed a bit.

 

Maki rolled her eyes and let out a huff, before noticing that Nico had now swiveled her chair and leaned down to her bag to pick up an.. orange?

 

Nico quickly swiveled the chair back around to face Maki, holding the orange up in the air like a trophy for a few moments, looking somewhat proud, for whatever reason, before bringing it back down and digging her manicured nails into the skin to begin peeling it.

 

Maki couldn’t hide her disgust, her eyes squinted and her mouth cringed.

 

“How can you even eat that?”

 

Nico looked up from the orange and looked at her, before remembering the girls absolute hatred for oranges.

 

Nico recoiled back.“How can you eat anything that’s spicy?”

 

Maki huffed and leaned back in her seat, not wanting to give Nico the satisfaction of knowing she was actually right.She turned her head towards the closed door to Nico’s office.

 

“Ugh.I’m going to go get a soda.”

 

She stood up from her seat and scooted the chair back, trying her best to ignore Nico and her horrible fruit choice.She didn’t need to walk more than a foot to be at arms length to unlock the office door.She turned the golden handle and was greeted to the vending machines on the left.

 

She stepped up to the soda one, her face reflecting in the glass with a blue hue from the light.She browsed her limited choices, from Coke, to Pepsi, to Gatorade.

 

Finally deciding, Maki dug out a dollar and fifty cents from her jeans pocket, and went for the buttons that gave her the classic Coke.

 

The loud clunk from the machine made Maki kneel down and push the door open, finding the cold can underneath her hand.She grasped it and brought her hand out of the door, before turning towards Nico’s office door.

 

Maki began to make her way towards the door, before a voice stopped her.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Maki turned around in confusion, seeing nobody but a certain purple-haired friend of hers.

 

Maki’s face dropped in shock.

 

“What are *you* doing here?”

 

“I work here,” Nozomi pointed towards her name tag and her purple employee outfit. “Duh.”

 

“Duh.”

 

Maki repeated and stared in awe, she hadn’t really seen Nozomi in years, and this was certainly the last place she’d expect to see her in.

 

Nozomi chuckled and stared at Maki.“But really, what’re you doing back here?You know it’s employees only, right?”

 

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Maki blushed a bit and scratched the back of her head. “I’m just um.. visiting Nico.”

 

Nozomi’s eyes had a newfound shine.“Visiting Nico, huh?”She smirked.“Didn’t know she got such a good catch.”

 

“Not like that!” Maki stomped her foot and used every willpower not to chuck the soda can she was holding at Nozomi’s smug smile.

 

“As friends!That’s it!”

 

Nico had heard the argument through her thin office door, and stepped outside to see what was going on.

 

Maki wasn’t aware Nico had opened her door until Nozomi had spoken directly to her.“Nico, are you dating Maki?”

 

Maki turned around to glare at Nico.

 

“Um.. No?”

 

Nozomi finally seemed satisfied with the answer.“Yeah, I thought you’d tell me if you were.I remembered how obsessed with her you were in high school.”

 

“Shut the hell up and go back to work!”Nico had pointed to the doorway back to the candy shop and knitted her eyebrows together as she did so.

 

“Fine, fine.Hope to see you again, Maki.” Nozomi had started off towards the doorway again but had her hand up in a wave. 

 

“You.. too?”

 

Maki still stood there in a trance holding her soda, before Nico scoffed.

 

“Sorry about her.”

 

Maki looked back at Nico.“No, no, I remember how she is.You’re fine.” Maki had smiled at Nico kind of.. warmingly? Especially for someone who’s whole right hand had become almost numb from the soda.

 

Nico couldn’t help but look down into Maki’s hand and comment on her beverage choice.“Coke, huh?” Maki nodded.“I’m more of a Pepsi girl myself, but Coke’s not too bad.Kinda matches your hair.” Nico smirked.

 

“Oh yeah, I guess it kinda does.”

 

Maki had raised her wrist to look at the time, noticing it was, once again, just a few minutes till her bus arrived the stop around Nico’s candy shop.

 

“Oh crap.” Maki muttered under her breath, but somehow Nico still heard it.As if she could read Maki’s mind, she basically finished her sentence.“Your bus?”

 

Maki nodded.

 

“Damn. Thought so.” Nico dipped her head low.She quickly perked up, however.“Hey, I got a few things from overstock I wanna give you though, so go get your bag?”

 

Maki looked a bit surprised.Usually Nico didn’t have overstock unless it was the gumdrops she had mentioned earlier, because she didn’t have much storage for it all. 

 

“Yeah, thanks, that’d be pretty nice actually.”

 

Maki went into Nico’s office and picked up her schoolbag, tossing the handles over her shoulder.She walked back out and followed Nico out of the staff break room, and to the side of the main shop counter.

 

Nozomi was working the register, and finished up checking out the last customer in the line as Nico had gone up to lean against the side of the counter with Maki standing a bit awkwardly behind her.

 

“Hey Nozomi, can you reach into the little ledge down there and get me that bundle of stuff?”

 

Nozomi nodded and leaned down to an area of shelves underneath the counter, finding a bundle of multiple candy items tied together with a ribbon and a small note on the top.She handed it over to Nico, who handed it to Maki.

 

Maki didn’t have the time to look at the note, nor the contents of the bundle, though, since upon taking it into her hands Nico was already ushering her out of the store.

 

“Makiii, you’re gonna miss your busss!”

 

Maki groaned, relaxing her weight so it was harder for Nico to push her.“I know when my bus comes, Nico, I can see it!”

 

Nozomi chimed in from behind the counter.“You two are acting like Maki’s taking the school bus for the first time.”

 

Nico stopped shoving Maki to put her hand on her heart, acting deeply offended.Maki rolled her eyes. 

 

“Whatever, I’m just gonna go stand out there now and wait.”

 

Maki had started to head towards the door before Nico’s small hand grabbed her arm.“Wait!”

 

“What?”

 

Nico had pulled her into a tight hug, that was comfortable considering their height difference.Maki kind of liked it as she rested her cheek on the top of Nico’s head.

 

“Thanks for coming to see me so often.” Nico muttered into Maki’s shoulder

 

Maki blushed a bit.“Yeah, it’s.. don’t worry about it.Thanks for the candy, again.”

 

Maki could have sworn she felt a smile come from Nico, even through her sweatshirt. 

 

After a few moments, Nico had released Maki from her hug, borderline death grip.Both could hear Nozomi’s giggling in the background, but they ignored it.

 

Maki had headed towards the door.Nozomi shouted her final goodbye as Maki stepped out the door.Nico stood in the doorway. 

 

Before Maki had started to cross the street, Nico called out to her.

 

“Hey, Maki?”

 

Maki turned around with a ‘hmm?’

 

Nico paused for a few moments and smiled warmly.“Safe travels.”

 

Maki had smiled back.“Thank you.”

 

Once the cars had stopped, Maki had sprinted towards the other side of the street where the bus stop was.

 

She ran to the bench and sat down to wait. 

 

“Finally, now I can look at Nico’s ‘overstock’.“ Maki thought.

 

She raised the gift up to her chest, and took the note from in between the ribbon.

 

The note simply read “I thought you should try to eat candy more :)”, but it still made Maki happy.Lollipops, gum, chocolates, and other small candy items were wrapped up with a ribbon.

 

Maki knew these weren’t overstock items, and Nico knew it, too.But they both knew Maki wouldn’t agree to take it unless Nico lied a bit about it.

 

But that’s okay, because it made things all the sweeter in the end.


End file.
